Single Source Procurement: HIV+ Rental Assistance Pilot Project

Pursuant to New York State Finance Law § 163.10(b), The New York State Department of Health is presenting the following summary of relevant circumstances, and material and substantial reasons why a competitive procurement was not feasible.

This project will provide housing placement and rental assistance to 50 extremely low income homeless health home participants who are diagnosed with HIV infection but medically ineligible for the existing HIV-specific enhanced rental assistance program for New Yorkers with AIDS or advanced HIV-illness (AIDS Shelter Allowance). This pilot is an approved demonstration project of the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) Affordable Housing Workgroup, and the projected timeframe to conduct this demonstration project is 7/01/2014 - 6/30/2016. This pilot will employ a pre- and post-housing evaluation designed to evaluate health care utilization, outcomes and costs in the 24 month period before and after the receipt of rental assistance among the 50 eligible health home participants. If this demonstration project model proves to be successful, future funding for this project will be competitively procured. If the project is unsuccessful, the model will be phased out.

The NYSDOH AIDS Institute and MRT need to implement this approved limited demonstration project as expeditiously as possible. Bronx AIDS Services (d.b.a. BOOM!Health) is uniquely qualified to successfully manage the contract for this demonstration project. This capacity is evidenced in numerous ways including:

  • Bronx AIDS Services has provided housing placement assistance (including outreach and advocacy to commercial SROs) and case management services to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who are homeless or unstably housed for more than a decade.
  • Bronx AIDS Services provides a full range of prevention, syringe exchange, health coordination, behavioral health, housing, advocacy, and wellness services. The agency currently oversees 54 contracts, all of which are in good standing and none are on corrective action status.
  • Bronx AIDS Services has considerable evaluation capacity. Their Director of Evaluation has over 15 years of experience conducting evaluation projects. Her research and evaluation has focused on the impact of HIV/AIDS and homelessness on access and engagement in health and mental health services. She recently served as the Project Coordinator for the provision of evaluation and technical assistance to HRSA and HUD funded grantees as part of a national multi-site project. For the past 3 years she served as the Project and Field Director on the Community Health Advisory and Information Network (CHAIN) Project, a national longitudinal survey of PLWHA in New York City.
  • Bronx AIDS Services has a special relationship with iHealth – a critical collaborator in this endeavor. iHealth is a collaborative of community-based providers, united to advocate and negotiate on behalf of HIV targeted case management programs and the chronically ill Medicaid recipients to be served by the Health Homes system. The community based providers that make up the iHealth collaborative all serve the population this pilot program needs to reach to be successful. For this reason, the AIDS Institute recognized iHealth as being a unique collaborator whose participation is required for the success of this demonstration project. iHealth is the only such collaborative that exists in the State, which currently serves the target population of this demonstration project. iHealth would facilitate prompt identification and referral of potential clients for this project, which is mandatory to the success of this project. Bronx AIDS Services has an agreement to serve as the fiscal agency and grant administrator for the iHealth collaborative. Through a cooperative agreement between iHealth and Bronx AIDS Services, iHealth will coordinate the recruitment of eligible participants, provide housing placement assistance, collect relevant data to evaluate the effectiveness of the demonstration project, assist with evaluation design, and provide assistance with the administration of rental subsidies specifically related to this demonstration project. With this cooperative agreement in place, Bronx AIDS Services is uniquely positioned to expeditiously and successfully implement this time limited demonstration project.

As is the case with all other MRT Affordable Housing projects, this project will adhere to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidance pertaining to the administration of low-income rental subsidies. HUD guidance also indicates that clients will contribute 30% of their income to the rent. As this project targets HIV+ homeless individuals, it is anticipated that the only source of income for nearly all individuals served will be Public Assistance benefits.

Procurement / Program Name HIV+ Rental Assistance Pilot Project
Contractor Name(s) Bronx AIDS Services (dba BOOM!Health)
Contract Period 7/1/2014 – 6/30/2016
Contract Number(s) C029349